Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident., sentence 92
As the chief did not return, the wives and daughters went out to the farm to look for him and try to find out what had happened to everybody, thus leaving the house deserted except for the cattle and the fowls.
Who acts: chief, wives, house · What happens: not return, go out, look, try, find out, happen · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Xv.--what Happened At Okuni When Anyone Was Killed By Accident.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, wives, house), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | As | as | ADP | _ | 3 chief | case |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 chief | det |
| 3 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 went | obl |
| 4 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 return | aux |
| 5 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 6 return | advmod |
| 6 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 chief | acl:relcl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 chief | punct |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 wives | det |
| 9 | wives | wife | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 went | nsubj |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 daughters | cc |
| 11 | daughters | daughter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 wives | conj |
| 12 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 13 | out | out | ADV | _ | 12 went | advmod |
| 14 | to | to | ADP | _ | 16 farm | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 farm | det |
| 16 | farm | farm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 went | obl |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 look | mark |
| 18 | look | look | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 went | advcl |
| 19 | for | for | ADP | _ | 20 him | case |
| 20 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 look | obl |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 try | cc |
| 22 | try | try | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 look | conj |
| 23 | to | to | PART | _ | 24 find | mark |
| 24 | find | find | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 try | xcomp |
| 25 | out | out | ADP | _ | 24 find | compound:prt |
| 26 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 28 happened | nsubj |
| 27 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 happened | aux |
| 28 | happened | happen | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 24 find | ccomp |
| 29 | to | to | ADP | _ | 30 everybody | case |
| 30 | everybody | everybody | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Tot | 28 happened | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 leaving | punct |
| 32 | thus | thus | ADV | _ | 33 leaving | advmod |
| 33 | leaving | leave | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 28 happened | advcl |
| 34 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 house | det |
| 35 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 deserted | nsubj |
| 36 | deserted | desert | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 leaving | ccomp |
| 37 | except | except | ADP | _ | 40 cattle | case |
| 38 | for | for | ADP | _ | 40 cattle | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 cattle | det |
| 40 | cattle | cattle | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 deserted | obl |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 fowls | cc |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 fowls | det |
| 43 | fowls | fowl | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 cattle | conj |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not return | past · do-support | the chief not said here | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | go out | past | the wives and daughters | as the chief; to the farm; out property | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | look | to-infinitive | the wives and daughters not said here | for message | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for he=Theme | ||||
| 4 | try | infinitive | the wives and daughters not said here | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 5 | find out not said to happen | to-infinitive | the wives and daughters not said here | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | happen | past · perfect | to everybody; what nsubj | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | leave | gerund | thus property | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | desert | past | the house | except the cattle and the fowls | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.
Text: «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell, Project Gutenberg book 70959 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/12/92/